Bill Text: MI SB0812 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Elections; voting equipment; certain obsolete provisions; remove, and modify voting machine references to electronic voting system. Amends sec. 794b of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.794b); adds secs. 37a, 37b & 765a & repeals secs. 769a - 793 of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.769a - 168.793).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-05-08 - Assigned Pa 0123'18 With Immediate Effect [SB0812 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2017-SB0812-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 812
February 13, 2018, Introduced by Senator ROBERTSON and referred to the Committee on Elections and Government Reform.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 794b (MCL 168.794b), as amended by 1990 PA 109,
and by adding sections 37a, 37b, 765a, 798d, and 840; and to repeal
acts and parts of acts.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 37a. The secretary of state shall allow a county clerk,
in consultation with the clerk of each city and township located in
that county, to determine which electronic voting system will be
used in the county as long as the electronic voting system selected
meets both of the following criteria:
(a) The electronic voting system is the same type of
electronic voting system as the uniform voting system.
(b) The electronic voting system is approved and certified as
provided in section 795a.
Sec. 37b. The governing body of a governmental unit in this
state may contract with the governing body of another governmental
unit in this state with regard to the use of the electronic voting
system owned by either of the contracting units.
Sec. 765a. (1) If a city or township decides to use absent
voter counting boards, the board of election commissioners of that
city or township shall establish an absent voter counting board for
each election day precinct in that city or township. The ballot
form of an absent voter counting board must correspond to the
ballot form of the election day precinct for which it is
established. After the polls close on election day, the county,
city, or township clerk responsible for producing the accumulation
report of the election results submitted by the boards of precinct
election inspectors shall format the accumulation report to clearly
indicate all of the following:
(a) The election day precinct returns.
(b) The corresponding absent voter counting board returns.
(c) A total of each election day precinct return and each
corresponding absent voter counting board return.
(2) The board of election commissioners shall establish the
absent voter counting boards. The board of election commissioners
shall appoint the election inspectors to those absent voter
counting boards not less than 21 days or more than 40 days before
the election at which they are to be used. Sections 673a and 674
apply to the appointment of election inspectors to absent voter
counting boards under this section. The board of election
commissioners shall determine the number of ballots that may be
expeditiously counted by an absent voter counting board in a
reasonable period of time, taking into consideration the size and
complexity of the ballot to be counted pursuant to the guidelines
of the secretary of state. Combined ballots must be regarded as the
number of ballots as there are sections to the ballot.
(3) If more than 1 absent voter counting board is to be used,
the city or township clerk shall determine the number of electronic
voting systems or the number of ballot boxes and the number of
election inspectors to be used in each of the absent voter counting
boards and to which absent voter counting board the absent voter
ballots for each precinct are assigned for counting.
(4) In a city or township that uses absent voter counting
boards under this section, absent voter ballots must be counted in
the manner provided in this section and absent voter ballots must
not be delivered to the polling places. The board of election
commissioners shall provide a place for each absent voter counting
board to count the absent voter ballots. Section 662 applies to the
designation and prescribing of the absent voter counting place or
places in which the absent voter counting board performs its duties
under this section, except the location may be in a different
jurisdiction if the county provides a tabulator for use at a
central absent voter counting board location in that county. The
places must be designated as absent voter counting places. Except
as otherwise provided in this section, laws relating to paper
ballot precincts, including laws relating to the appointment of
election inspectors, apply to absent voter counting places. If a
counting place uses electronic voting systems, the provisions of
this section relating to placing of absent voter ballots on
electronic voting systems apply. More than 1 absent voter counting
board may be located in 1 building.
(5) The clerk of a city or township that uses absent voter
counting boards shall supply each absent voter counting board with
supplies necessary to carry out its duties under this act. The
supplies must be furnished to the city or township clerk in the
same manner and by the same persons or agencies as for other
precincts.
(6) Absent voter ballots received by the clerk before election
day must be delivered to the absent voter counting board by the
clerk or the clerk's authorized assistant at the time the election
inspectors of the absent voter counting boards report for duty,
which time must be established by the board of election
commissioners. Absent voter ballots received by the clerk before
the time set for the closing of the polls on election day must be
delivered to the absent voter counting boards. Absent voter ballots
must be delivered to the absent voter counting boards in the sealed
absent voter ballot return envelopes in which they were returned to
the clerk. Written or stamped on each of the return envelopes must
be the time and the date that the envelope was received by the
clerk and a statement by the clerk that the signatures of the
absent voters on the envelopes have been checked and found to agree
with the signatures of the voters on the registration cards or the
digitized signatures of voters contained in the qualified voter
file as provided under section 766. If a signature on the
registration card or a digitized signature contained in the
qualified voter file and on the absent voter ballot return envelope
does not agree as provided under section 766, if the absent voter
failed to sign the envelope, or if the statement of the absent
voter is not properly executed, the clerk shall mark the envelope
"rejected" and the reason for the rejection and shall place his or
her name under the notation. An envelope marked "rejected" must not
be delivered to the absent voter counting board but must be
preserved by the clerk until other ballots are destroyed in the
manner provided in this act. The clerk shall also comply with
section 765(5).
(7) This chapter does not prohibit an absent voter from voting
in person within the voter's precinct at an election,
notwithstanding that the voter may have applied for an absent voter
ballot and the ballot may have been mailed or otherwise delivered
to the voter. The voter, the election inspectors, and other
election officials shall proceed in the manner prescribed in
section 769. The clerk shall preserve the canceled ballots for 2
years.
(8) The absent voter counting boards shall process the ballots
and returns in as nearly as possible the same manner as ballots are
processed in paper ballot precincts. The poll book may be combined
with the absent voter list or record required by section 760, and
the applications for absent voter ballots may be used as the poll
list. The processing and tallying of absent voter ballots may
commence at 7 a.m. on the day of the election.
(9) An election inspector, challenger, or any other person in
attendance at an absent voter counting place at any time after the
processing of ballots has begun shall take and sign the following
oath that may be administered by the chairperson or a member of the
absent voter counting board:
"I (name of person taking oath) do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I shall not communicate in any way any information relative to
the processing or tallying of votes that may come to me while in
this counting place until after the polls are closed.".
(10) The oaths administered under subsection (9) must be
placed in an envelope provided for the purpose and sealed with the
red state seal. Following the election, the oaths must be delivered
to the city or township clerk. Except as otherwise provided in
subsection (12), a person in attendance at the absent voter
counting place shall not leave the counting place after the
tallying has begun until the polls close. A person who causes the
polls to be closed or who discloses an election result or in any
manner characterizes how any ballot being counted has been voted in
a voting precinct before the time the polls can be legally closed
on election day is guilty of a felony.
(11) Voted absent voter ballots must be placed in an approved
ballot container, and the ballot container must be sealed in the
manner provided by this act for paper ballot precincts. The seal
numbers must be recorded on the statement sheet and in the poll
book.
(12) Subject to this subsection, a local election official who
has established an absent voter counting board, the deputy or
employee of that local election official, or an employee of the
state bureau of elections may enter and leave an absent voter
counting board after the tally has begun but before the polls
close. A person described in this subsection may enter an absent
voter counting board only for the purpose of responding to an
inquiry from an election inspector or a challenger or providing
instructions on the operation of the counting board. Before
entering an absent voter counting board, a person described in this
subsection must take and sign the oath prescribed in subsection
(9). The chairperson of the absent voter counting board shall
record in the poll book the name of a person described in this
subsection who enters the absent voter counting board. A person
described in this subsection who enters an absent voter counting
board and who discloses an election result or in any manner
characterizes how any ballot being counted has been voted in a
precinct before the time the polls can be legally closed on
election day is guilty of a felony. As used in this subsection,
"local election official" means a county, city, or township clerk.
(13) The secretary of state shall develop instructions
consistent with this act for the conduct of absent voter counting
boards. The secretary of state shall distribute the instructions
developed under this subsection to city and township clerks 40 days
or more before a general election in which absent voter counting
boards will be used. A city or township clerk shall make the
instructions developed under this subsection available to the
public and shall distribute the instructions to each challenger in
attendance at an absent voter counting board. The instructions
developed under this subsection are binding upon the operation of
an absent voter counting board used in an election conducted by a
county, city, or township.
Sec.
794b. The If federal funding
or state funding is not
available, the board of commissioners of a county, the legislative
body
of a city, or village, or the township board of a
township, or
the
school board of a school district, on
the adoption and
acquisition of an electronic voting system, shall provide for all
or
the balance of the payment for the
system. in the same manner as
is
provided for the payment for voting machines in section 774.
Sec. 798d. If there is no reserve electronic voting system
available, emergency ballots may also be provided by the county
board of election commissioners. Emergency ballots must have
suitable blank spaces to permit the voter to vote for the
candidates for whom the elector desires to vote. The ballots must
be used only in an emergency and upon special permission of the
board or official whose duty it is to provide ballots for the
election. The board or official shall prepare the emergency ballots
that must be held by the city, township, or village clerk, subject
to the order of the county clerk or other authorized person. It is
not necessary to provide emergency ballots for each election unless
previously provided ballots have been used, destroyed, or lost, in
which case similar ballots must again be provided. If at any time
during the election, the electronic voting system is disabled and
cannot be repaired and no other electronic voting system is
available, an emergency must be declared to exist and the voting
after an emergency is declared at that election in that voting
precinct must be by emergency ballot, in the manner provided in
this section. The board or official who has custody of the
emergency ballots, when so directed, shall supply a sufficient
number of emergency ballots to the election board for use by the
voters. One of the ballots must be delivered by the election board
to each voter who appears to vote after an emergency is declared.
Emergency ballots must be voted and counted subject to the
provisions relative to voting by ballot at general elections,
except as otherwise provided in this section. The ballots must be
numbered consecutively from 1 up, and the number and identification
must be printed on a perforated stub as in the case where only
regular ballots are used at elections.
Sec. 840. (1) If it appears that there is a discrepancy in the
returns of any election district, the board of county canvassers,
or the authorized representatives of the board of county
canvassers, shall make a record of the number of the seal, if any,
and the number on the protective counter, if one is provided, and
shall open the counter compartment of the electronic voting system,
and without unlocking the electronic voting system against voting,
shall re-canvass the vote cast on the electronic voting system.
Before making the re-canvass, the board of county canvassers shall
give sufficient notice in writing to the clerk of the time and
place where the re-canvass is to be made.
(2) If upon re-canvass it is found that the original canvass
of the returns has been correctly made from the electronic voting
system, and that the discrepancy still remains unaccounted for, the
clerk or authorized assistant of the clerk, in the presence of the
election inspectors and the board of county canvassers, shall
unlock the voting and counting mechanism of the electronic voting
system and shall proceed to thoroughly examine and test the
electronic voting system to determine and reveal the true cause or
causes, if any, of the discrepancy in the return from the
electronic voting system.
(3) Before testing the electronic voting system, the counters
in the party row or column in which the discrepancy is alleged to
have occurred must be set at zero, after which each of the counters
must be operated at least 100 times.
(4) After the completion of the examination, the clerk or
authorized assistant of the clerk shall then and there prepare a
statement in writing giving the result of the test, and the
statement must be witnessed by the persons present and must be
filed with the board of county canvassers.
(5) A candidate voted for at any election who conceives
himself or herself aggrieved on account of any fraud, error, or
mistake in the canvass of the vote by the election inspectors or in
the returns made by the election inspectors may file a written
petition for a recount with the board of county canvassers.
Enacting section 1. Sections 770 to 793 of the Michigan
election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.770 to 168.793, are repealed.
Enacting section 2. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.
